NDSA found design faults, wrong construction at Medigadda: Uttam
Uttam said he insisted with the Centre on early submission to the state the final NDSA report to the state and Union jal shakti minister C.R. Patil assured him on Wednesday that it would be sent by the end of this month
Hyderabad: Irrigation minister N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Thursday said preliminary information about the National Dam Safety Authority’s (NDSA) final report on Medigadda barrage showed that the problems at the barrage were as a result of improper designs, selection of secant pile system for the foundations, absence of operation and maintenance and overall wrong construction.
At a press meet, Uttam Kumar Reddy attacked the BRS for accusing the state government of neglecting repairs to the Medigadda barrage, part of the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme (KLIS). “The NDSA had said that if water is stored and the barrage develops problems, the flood could even result in Bhadrachalam temple getting washed away. To prevent any untoward incident, it said no water must be stored at Medigadda,” he said.
The minister said he insisted with the Centre on early submission to the state the final NDSA report to the state and Union jal shakti minister C.R. Patil assured him on Wednesday that it would be sent by the end of this month.
Uttam Kumar Reddy was rebutting claims by BRS leader and former irrigation minister T. Harish Rao that the damage to Medigadda was limited to one pillar in one of the barrage’s seven blocks and that the repairs could have been completed in a matter of six months.
“The barrage sank in October 2023 and KCR did not utter a single word about it. Medigadda was built in the BRS regime and it collapsed in the BRS regime. It was the BRS government that called Medigadda barrage the heart of the Kaleshwaram scheme. We will wait for the NDSA report, its recommendations on the way forward,” Uttam Kumar Reddy said.
